We all know that Bruins captain Zdeno Chara played almost the entire 2009-10 season with an ugly dislocated pinky finger . After it hindered him for a while, he seemed to get used to it and was his old self for most of the second two thirds of the campaign.

Now it looks like he’s really going to have to get used to it.

Chara told BostonBruins.com writer John Bishop that any thoughts of surgically repairing the finger are now officially history.

“Well we had a few meetings with the doctor,” Chara told Bishop. “He basically recommended not doing any surgery on it for one important reason. He said he could make the finger straight, but there’s a risk I could lose the grip, which I didn’t want to lose, especially on my bottom hand.

“You need that finger, so I decided with the doctor to not proceed with any surgery…[and] it’s doing good. It didn’t bother me and I just have to get used to it but the finger is a little crooked.”

Chara wore a splint for most of the season after the injury occurred in November. He revealed the nature of his problem to this blogger in a previous role with another Web site. At that time and when the season ended, Chara left open the possibility of surgery. As the season wore on, his physicality and willingness to drop the gloves grew — including his attack of retribution against Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad in the playoffs.

Now that he knows he has the doctor’s blessing to go on playing his game with a misdirected finger, Chara should really be able to return to his vicious approach to the game.